VIII district – where underground begins

New places spring up like mushrooms in Budapest, however not all of them have promising future.

Last year I frequently visited a corner of Stáhly utca on Blaha Lujza tér, where I was trying to print my magazine. The guy who was in charge of this place promised me several times, that my prints will be done, however in the end he totally did not give a fuck. Here we are touching very important and, at the same time, burning topic – ‘challenges of doing business in Hungary’.

You should know, that many Hungarians do not take it (business) serious and me and my friends (who have the same experience) have already a theory, that majority of them, care more about their dogs (dogs here have an equal place in the society – which is not bad), summer fröccs (wine mixed with sparkling water) and weekends on the bosom of nature/Balaton. So finally, as you can imagine, my magazine has been printed in Poland (gladly things get faster there) and this corner place, which was totally under construction last year, finally reopened its door as a bar/gallery (they had one year delay, this place supposed to be open in April 2016).

I will surprise you here, but I strongly believe, that it was totally worth to wait because in my view Typo is one of the best place in Budapest, representing underground scene, at the moment. It’s not only that you can get really good food, for reasonable price (prices are actually quite low), you have great interior, quite minimalists, but hip posters on the walls give sort of artistic feeling. You can buy some street clothes (upstairs they have little gallery) and the most important thing from my perspective is a drum&bass music (live gigs), which is extremely difficult to find nowadays in Budapest. If you seek for this type of music, you should follow Friday dnb – fantastic boys, bringing the best d’n’b music to Budapest.

VIII district is a bit underrated, but looks like the real underground starts here. For me this district has absolutely stunning architecture a bit crumbling, that’s true, but there is definitely some hidden beauty.

On the right side of Rákóczi Market Hall, there is my favorite building in this area, somehow reminds me Lower East side in NYC.

If you wish to discover another hidden bar, follow Déri Miksa utca until you reach Kék Ló. This quirky place had its beginning on Kazinczy utca some time ago, but now it has been moved to VIII district. Kék Ló (in English blue horse) is a surrealistic concept bar, where you can buy up cycling clothes, craft beer and listen to experimental music. Very artistic interiors, with big open windows, interesting crowd and many cool events. You can sit in or out and feel bohemian atmosphere.

credit: Kék Ló

One of the most important place of VIII district is without a doubt Auróra. This place is already a legend and plays very important role in Hungarian culture. Auróra ” is a social enterprise which was created to connect cultural programs, civil and activist organizations work, community building and fun in an open community. One of the most important goals of the Auróra project is the strengthening of the civil sector, inspire cooperation among the organizations and to provide them publicity”.

I went there for the first time just last week, although I live in Budapest nearly 7 years and heard about this place many times. This place looks exactly as I imagined. A bit ruined place with little garden, many wooden tables and chairs with little, cute hammock in the middle. Almost each day you can find there some exciting program, either it will be some live concert, hard core techno party or workshop.

credit: google images

“Auróra’s long-term goal is to create an innovative and self-sustaining practice which increases the number of socially active citizens to advance the broadening of democratic practices in Hungary”. It’s quite important point, as many people (expats, foreigners, tourists) feel totally free in Hungary (you can drink on the streets, nobody really bothers you, and you have million events to attend almost each day). We (expats) do not really follow politics, but once you speak Hungarian enough to actually understand what is going on in the country, you will quickly realize, that you live in a bubble and democracy is not so stable in Hungary (regardless of all possibilities, which you still have, once you move here).

If you wish to know more about VIII district, I strongly suggest you to read the interview with Craig Hull, who is a street photographer, and with his new project: Words on the street he can not only teach you photography tricks but also give you an interesting tour around this district.